Landsec’s Caroline Hill on tackling climate change
The We Mean Business coalitionThe We Mean Business coalition caught up with Caroline Hill, Landsec Head of Sustainability, to discuss how the largest commercial property company in the UK and FTSE 100 member is tackling climate change:
“Landsec takes climate change really seriously and it’s of really high importance to our executive committee and boards. Taking climate change seriously is core to the business for many reasons but mostly it is about future-proofing the business, being ready for tomorrow’s challenges now and keeping ahead of what our stakeholders will be demanding in the future.”
“Landsec are doing a number of different things to look at climate change and its impact on our business. For example we’ve recently signed up to a science-based carbon reduction target* and we’re working hard across the business to achieve meaningful carbon reduction across our portfolio.”
“Whether that’s through purchasing renewable energy or good energy management in all of our buildings and also through the procurement of green gas as well as a recent addition for us.”
“We’re also looking at our buildings in terms of climate resilience. How can we make sure that our buildings are ready? What sort of flood adaptation measures have we got in place for our buildings? Where are our buildings located? How can we design them to change and withstand future weather patterns?”
*Landsec commits to reduce GHG emissions 40% per square meter by 2030, from a 2014 base-year (scope 1, scope 2 and a portion of scope 3 emissions from downstream leased assets). This will set the company on the path to accomplish an 80% carbon intensity reduction by 2050 from the same base-year.
The company also commits to engage with all main contractors (lead construction partners) to encourage them to set science-based targets by 2023, so that the embodied carbon from key materials can be reduced in line with what is required for a 2 degrees pathway. Additionally, the company will ensure that all leased floor area has an energy efficiency rating of at least an E (ratings are A-G) by 2023, in order to reduce the operational carbon emissions associated with that floor area.
Landsec’ science-based target has been approved by the Science-Based Target initiative: a collaboration between CDP, World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), and is one of the We Mean Business coalition initiatives.
- Find out more about the benefits that Landsec is realizing from having set its science-based target in this case study.
- Find out how your company can Take Action.